LETTERS PAGE

SIGNS OF A CULT

Source : 21/09/1987 Northampton Evening Telegraph

In your report on the Jesus Army, better known as the Bugbrooke Fellowship, their founder and leader Noel Stanton asserts that being referred to as a cult is inevitable when something is new. On the contrary, it is the facts already known about his sect which are the cause of increasing nation-wide concern. Its religious credentials may be impeccable but many of its practices exhibit the well-documented hallmarks of a cult.

In the past year, they have been expelled from the Baptist Union and the Evangelical Alliance because they failed to fulfil the fundamental requirement of association with other churches.

Informed criticism does not relate to their religious beliefs, their community lifestyle or their sadly misled members who appear to accept all they are told without question. The subtle danger is that Jesus People really believe they are doing God's will, without understanding the reverse side of their carefully nurtured 'goodness image.'

Those of us, including church leaders, MPs and welfare workers, who have long sought to expose the dangerous hidden aspects, are motivated by seemingly endless cries of help from heartbroken people who have been involved with the Jesus Fellowship. There is much talk of helping the needy but little mention of university students and graduates recruited from close-knit Christian families, of their multi-million pound business empire or the increasing number of young people running away from them.

Despite claims that they do not invite anyone under 18 to join their community, there is sad evidence that any well under that age are involved. Two young Kettering girls recently reported being pressured into visiting New Creation farm at Bugbrooke.